‘Killer wanted a relationship – but she was in love with a married man’

An obsessive ex-boyfriend was desperate to restart the relationship with the woman he would viciously murder as she spurned him for a passionate affair with a married man, a court heard.

Stephanie Hansen, 39, met her latest boyfriend Celcso Cabillan at work at Heathrow airport and they were having sex in her car and on her lunchbreaks, the Old Bailey heard.

But she was still living with former sexual partner Sheldon Rodrigues, 30, who was becoming increasingly possessive and jealous.

They had more than one sexual encounter several years before, but Ms Hansen wanted no romantic involvement again – despite the fact she went on holiday with Rodrigues and would still allow him to see her naked at the house.

After a night shift at work spent listening in to the couple on bugs he had planted at the house, Rodrigues went home on his electric bike in a rage and battered and bludgeoned Ms Hansen to death on her pyjamas, it is claimed.

Ms Hansen had become good friends with her hairdresser Lucy Hughes, who told the court today (Thurs): ‘I knew Sheldon wanted a relationship with her and he had made it clear he wanted a relationship with her.’

The victim admitted to Ms Hughes that she had previously had sex with Rodrigues.

‘She said it was years ago, she was drunk, it was a big mistake,’ said Ms Hughes.

Ms Hughes said Ms Hansen had four or five other partners before she started seeing Mr Cabillan.

He had been married for 20 years, had three children and was living with his wife.

Mr Cabillan also worked for Swissport at Heathrow Airport where both Rodrigues and Ms Hansen were employed as cargo agents.

Ms Hughes said she believed Ms Hansen and Mr Cabillan were in love.

Asked where their ‘intimacy’ took place she replied: ‘In her car, in her lunchbreak.’

She added: ‘The only thing she was concerned about was his wife finding out.’

In the early summer of 2022 Ms Hansen had moved in with Rodrigues at Willenhall Drive, Hayes, west London.

They had previously shared a flat together but she loved wildlife and would feed squirrels from her hand.

Rodrigues suggested she could have a garden if they rented a house and share the cost, the court heard.

But he became increasingly possessive and would want to know where she was and who she was with, the hairdresser said.

Ms Hansen told Ms Hughes never to talk about Mr Cabillan in front of Rodrigues.

‘He became more possessive. He didn’t leave her alone,’ she said.

‘He would ask questions about where she was going and where she was.’

Ms Hansen told her she wanted to become a mother and had registered with a sperm donor, the court heard.

Earlier Kelvin Defoe, who was a driver at Swissport, told the court Ms Hansen was so sick of Rodrigues that she was wanted to leave the house.

‘She was planning on moving on to another address,’ he said

‘She could not take the abusive talk and the control. She was not happy.

‘She was supposed to be his girlfriend or something like that.

‘He would try to control her life. From the day I met her that was the vibe I was getting

‘If she was talking to a boy he would get really upset.’

The court has heard how Rodrigues paid a friend to follow Mr Cabillan who was so alarmed he called the police.

Rodrigues and the friends children were in the car when officers stopped them.

The accused killer said it had all been a misunderstanding and they were ‘looking for somewhere to eat.’

Rodrigues spent over 24 hours in the house with Ms Hansen’s lifeless body after killing her in the early hours of December 30, 2022.

He then called an ambulance and tried to frame Mr Cabillan, jurors have heard.

In the call to the operator, he said: ‘I have just found my housemate’s body.

‘I have just been in her room. I have found her dead in there.

‘I think her boyfriend has done something to her. He stayed here two nights ago. There is blood spattered all over the room as well.’

Ms Hansen was found in her bloodstained bedroom wearing just her pyjama top.

She had been subjected to a ‘vicious attack’, stabbed at least 20 times and suffering 39 blunt impact injuries, probably caused with a tower fan and hairdryer found in the bedroom.

Traces of Rodrigues’ DNA found on her lower stomach area are likely to have come from his semen, the court has heard.

Rodrigues, of Willenhall Drive, Hayes, west London, denies murder.

Keith Hellard, a friend and former colleague of Ms Hansen, told the court that Rodrigues had been ‘obsessed’ with her.

He said: ’She said she met him in Covid, I think they spent a bit of time together then in each others bubble, they couldn’t go out so spent a bit of time together.’

He said Ms Hansen then told him she was moving in with Rodrigues.

‘She said it was Sheldon’s idea, because she couldn’t afford the rent on a single bedroom apartment in Hayes.’

He said he helped Ms Hansen move into the flat with Rodrigues in April 2022, which was across the road from her old flat.

‘I thought Sheldon was a bit obsessed with Stephanie. If she asked him to run over the road he’d run over the road, if she was out of milk he’d go and get the milk.

‘It was “will you do that”, “yes I will, I’m on my way right now.”

Mr Hellard said he had been a delivery driver at UPS Courier Services and had met Ms Hansen when she worked there as a seasonal helper over Christmas 2021.

He said: ’Stephanie was visiting her mum over Christmas and she went up on the Wednesday, Sheldon went with her to Cambridge on the train, when they got to the other end Sheldon turned round and got the train back to London.

‘I was picking up Stephanie on the Christmas Eve because she had a wardrobe to come back.

‘She forgot a present for the dog, a dog hat, £2 or £3 for her Mum’s dog.

‘Steph told Sheldon to give it to me so I could bring it up on Christmas Eve with me but he said “no it’s okay I’ll come up on Thursday.”

‘So he went back up to Cambridge, gave the hat to Stephanie and then came back to London. Which I thought was a bit odd, obsessiveness you know.’

He said Ms Hansen had told him she had started a relationship with Mr Cabillan, who was married with children, earlier that year.

She told him she had never gone out with a married man before and she was in love with him but worried he didn’t love her the way she loved him.

‘He kept on breaking up and then changing his mind and all of the rest of it. It made her feel worthless.

‘She was ready to commit and he wasn’t.’

Mr Calliban had talked about ending the relationship two or three times and then changed his mind and begged Ms Hansen to come back, he said.

He said that, in the car journey on Christmas Eve, Ms Hansen told him Rodrigues was ‘becoming worse’ since she started her relationship with Mr Cabillan.

‘She said she felt a bit trapped living there with Sheldon. He would sit outside the bathroom door cross legged when she was having a bath begging her that he wanted to come in and she said “look Sheldon, just give me some space.”

Mr Hellard said there was a camera set up in the living room to watch the hedgehogs in the garden.

He said that Ms Hansen had told him that when she and Mr Cabillan were on the sofa while Rodrigues was in Dubai he had spoken over the camera saying ‘get him out of my house.’

He said Mr Calliban had then received a threatening message on Facebook threatening to kidnap one of his children.

‘She said that Celso had told her that he was followed in a car full of Asians, and he got so scared that he went a different route home.

‘She said she believed Sheldon was behind the following.

‘Sheldon was jealous of Stephanie’s relationship with Celso, 100 per cent,’ he said.

He said he had told Ms Hansen she could come and stay at his house but he felt she was under pressure to stay with Rodrigues.

He said Ms Hansen never mentioned that she had been intimate with Rodrigues.

He said she had never told him that either Rodrigues or Mr Cabillan had threatened her or been physically aggressive.

The trial continues.
ends